"waterworks" = one who cries excessively

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 07:58:20 -0500, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

>"Turn off the waterworks" (stop crying) is in my vernacular from the
>late 40's.

Well, yes, that would be the flip side of the "turn on the..." idiom that
I mentioned (OED has a 1931 cite for "turn on the...", and Proquest has
cites back to the 19th century). But have you ever heard of a *person*
referred to as a "waterworks"?

Here's the earliest example I've found so far:

-----
1981 _Daily Intelligencer_ (Doylestown, Pa.) 21 Jan. 3/5 I've been a
regular waterworks this morning (Tuesday), but I'm really feeling good
now, really good.
-----

Amazon and Google Print have a few more examples of "X is a regular
waterworks".


--Ben Zimmer


>>Here's an odd transferred sense of "waterworks" I hadn't seen before...
>>
>>-----
>>http://www.salon.com/ent/col/fix/2005/11/07/mon/index.html
>>She [Jennifer Aniston] also takes time to point out she's not the
>>waterworks she has been made out to be since her marriage went sour.
>>"I'm pegged as a crier, aren't I? I was upset about the Vanity Fair
>>article. I had one moment when I got emotional because I hadn't sat
>>down with an interviewer since this whole debacle took place. It
>>happened for a second and then it was over."
>>-----
>>
>>I thought it might be a nonce form, but I managed to find some similar
>>examples:
>>
>>-----
>>You have been quite the waterworks the past week and last night at
>>gradgeation.
>>http://www.trackforums.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-648.html
>>-----
>>Sometimes, If a guy is being a real waterworks, it's a turn-off.
>>http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331531&page=3
>>-----
>>In my old age I'm turning into a real waterworks - the tears first
>>appeared as they were flying kites, and it was all downhill from there.
>>http://scroobious.blogspot.com/2005/04/london-full-of-everywhere-else.html
>>-----
>>[at Carrie's very emotional and weepy goodbye dinner - Charlotte in
>>particular is being a total weepy waterworks]
>>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159206/quotes
>>-----
>>I was a total waterworks because my neighbor and him were friends and
>>students together and when he was playing.
>>http://www.woohu.com/postcomment.php?id=485002
>>-----
>>I've been a total waterworks lately.
>>http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=132913&page=2
>>-----
>>Okay, i know that i'ma waterworks but did anyone else cry when Cher
>>died on wolf's rain?
>>http://www.animerise.com/index.php?act=Print&client=printer&f=5&t=9423
>>-----
>>I get that from my Mom; she's a waterworks.
>>http://www.reinyday.com/rachel/daily/diary002.html
>>-----
>>
>>I suppose if a modifier like "total" or "real" precedes "waterworks" it
>>sounds a bit better, but it still seems strange. I'm not sure what
>>agentive form I'd prefer ("waterworks factory"? "waterworker"?). For
>>me, "waterworks" is too idiomatic (only appearing in set expressions
>>like "here comes the..." or "turn on the...") to take on any extended
>>meanings.
>>
>>
>>--Ben Zimmer